# Lee Purcell

Lee Purcell (born Lee Jeune Williams; June 15, 1947) is an American actress who worked primarily in the 1970s and 1980s.

## Early life

Purcell was born Lee Jeune Williams at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (North Carolina), the elder daughter of Major Frank D. Williams Jr., a decorated Marine Corps pilot who was killed while on active duty when she was two months old. Her mother, Lee (née McKnight) Williams, remarried, to Donald Purcell, a U.S. Navy doctor assigned to the Marine Corps. Lee Purcell has a younger sister.
She graduated from Paragould High School in 1965 and briefly attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri as a dance and theatre student until she was expelled.

## Career

She moved to California in 1967 and studied acting. Purcell supported herself by working in commercials and selling clothes at a disco.
In 1969, Purcell was selected for her first feature film by Steve McQueen in his company's production of Adam at Six A.M., co-starring Michael Douglas. Asked to explain why he chose Purcell from nearly 500 other available actresses, McQueen said, "It wasn't easy. We kept narrowing down the field over a period of weeks until it came to giving screen tests to six of them. All of them were good, but Lee seemed to jump right out of the screen."
Her television work included roles as Billie Dove and Olivia de Havilland in two biopic TV movies: The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) and My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985).
She was nominated for two Emmy Awards. In 1991, she was nominated as Outstanding Lead Actress for Long Road Home and in 1994 as Outstanding Supporting Actress for Secret Sins of the Father. She was co-producer, and starred in the 1998 low-budget cable-TV movie Malaika (alternate title Tons of Trouble).
Purcell's film career wound down in 1983 and she has only had five motion picture credits since, the last in 2015. She has continued to do television projects.

## Personal life

In December 2010 Purcell launched an interactive fashion and beauty website, BoomerBabes, geared towards Baby Boomer women. The website gained few visitors and BoomerBabes stopped updating in 2014.
Purcell is a member of the Church of Scientology.

## Filmography
### Feature films

| Year | Film | Role | Director |
| 1970 | Adam at Six A.M. | Jerri Jo Hopper | Robert Scheerer |
| 1972 | Dirty Little Billy | Berle | Stan Dragoti |
| 1972 | Stand Up and Be Counted | Karen Hammond | Jackie Cooper |
| 1972 | Necromancy | Priscilla | Bert I. Gordon |
| 1973 | Kid Blue | Molly Ford | James Frawley |
| 1974 | Mr. Majestyk | Wiley | Richard Fleischer |
| 1978 | Big Wednesday | Peggy Gordon | John Milius |
| 1978 | Almost Summer | Christine Alexander | Martin Davidson |
| 1980 | Stir Crazy | Susan | Sidney Poitier |
| 1982 | Airplane II: The Sequel | Mrs. Seluchi (Deleted Scene) | Ken Finkleman |
| 1982 | Homework | Ms. Jackson | James Beshears |
| 1983 | Eddie Macon's Run | Jilly Buck | Jeff Kanew |
| 1983 | Valley Girl | Beth Brent | Martha Coolidge |
| 1985 | Space Rage | Maggie | Conrad E. Palmisano |
| 1996 | Movies, Money, Murder | Lilah | Stephen Eckelberry, Arthur Webb |
| 1998 | Dizzyland | | Dennis Hackin |
| 2005 | The Unknown aka Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch | Doris Winslow | Karl Kozak |
| 2015 | Kids vs Monsters | Francine Gingerfield | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1969 | Bracken's World | Girl | |
| 1970 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Cathy Cullen | Made a second appearance in 1972, as 'Carol Lockett' |
| 1970 | Bonanza | Angie | |
| 1970 | The Young Rebels | Maggie Todd | |
| 1972 | Medical Center | Liza | |
| 1973 | Cannon | Marian Luke | Made two additional appearances in 1975, various characters |
| 1973 | Hijack | Eileen Noonan | TV movie |
| 1974 | ABC Wide World Mystery | Donna | |
| 1974 | The Rockford Files | Susan Parsons | |
| 1975 | The Waltons | Bobby Strom | Played a “wing walker” |
| 1975 | Insight | Tracy | |
| 1975 | Barnaby Jones | Kathy Cooper | Made a second appearance in 1977, as 'Peggy Giroux' |
| 1976 | Hawaii Five-O | Molly Taggert | Made a second appearance in 1977, same character |
| 1976 | Jigsaw John | Virginia Sand | |
| 1977 | The Amazing Howard Hughes | Billie Dove | TV movie |
| 1977 | The Streets of San Francisco | Carol Revson | |
| 1978 | Stranger in Our House | Julia Trent | TV movie (aka Summer of Fear) |
| 1979 | Murder in Music City | Samantha Hunt | TV movie (aka The Country Western Murders) |
| 1979 | A Man Called Sloane | Michele Blake | |
| 1980 | Kenny Rogers as The Gambler | Jennie Reed | TV movie |
| 1980 | My Wife Next Door | Lisa Pallick | Pilot for proposed TV series |
| 1980 | The Secret War of Jackie's Girls | Casey McCann | TV movie |
| 1981 | The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite | Bonnie Lee Beaumont | TV movie and pilot for proposed TV series |
| 1981 | Killing at Hell's Gate | Jane Pasco | TV movie |
| 1982 | The Phoenix | Cindy Houghton | |
| 1985 | Magnum, P.I. | Goldie Morris | |
| 1985 | Murder, She Wrote | Joanna Benson | Made four additional appearances in 1986, 1989 and 1994, various characters |
| 1985 | My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn | Olivia de Havilland | TV movie |
| 1985 | Hollywood Beat | Maggie | |
| 1986 | Betrayed by Innocence | Sharon DeLeon | TV movie |
| 1987 | Matlock | Andrea Colter | |
| 1987 | MacGyver | Shadow | |
| 1988 | To Heal a Nation | Sandie | TV movie |
| 1988 | The Incredible Hulk Returns | Dr. Maggie Shaw | TV movie |
| 1988 | Jake and the Fatman | Pamela Parker | |
| 1989 | Simon & Simon | Colleen Huntley/Missy Taylor | |
| 1990 | Shades of LA | Alex Taylor | |
| 1991 | Long Road Home | Bessie Robertson | TV movie. Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress |
| 1994 | Secret Sins of the Father | Ann Thielman | TV movie. Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress |
| 1995 | Due South | Louise St. Laurent | Made five additional appearances in 1995 and 1996, same character |
| 1995 | Dazzle | Red | TV movie |
| 1995 | The Magic of Christmas | Herself | Holiday special |
| 1997 | Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction | Dr. Kim O'Farrell | Segment: "The Unknown Patient" |
| 1998 | Promised Land | Beth Hixon | |
| 1998 | Malaika | Molly DeMornay | TV movie (aka Tons of Trouble) |
| 2010 | Persons Unknown | Eleanor Sullivan | Mini-series. Five appearances |
| 2016 | J.L. Family Ranch | Mable Ritter | TV film |

### Special projects

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1987 | A Woman's Guide to Firearms | Herself | Instructional video |
| 1987 | Your First Gun- A Family Guide To Shooting | The mother | Instructional video |
| 1992 | The Joke | Jane | 35mm short |
| 1997 | This World, Then the Fireworks | | ADR work (additional dialogue recording) |
| 2006 | White Picket Fence | Bonnie Durley | Super 16mm short |